Eye-on-Retail Daily Tipsheet Archives

Death of Costco co-founder Jeff Brotman, 74, ‘a complete shock’ by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. “Mr. Brotman, 74, died in his sleep at his home in Medina, said his brother, Michel Brotman. The cause of death wasn’t immediately known. “We assume his heart just stopped working,” Michel Brotman said. He said that on Monday night, Mr. Brotman had attended a dinner for about 2,000 Costco warehouse managers from around the world who are gathered this week at the Washington State Convention Center.”Read more

…Jeff Brotman is the older son of Bernie and Pearl Brotman…Bernie Brotman was the founder of former Tacoma-based clothing chain Bernie’s Men’s Wear and was the man who came up with the idea for Costco. by Kenny Ocker at the News Tribune.Read more

Walmart Canada scraps online pickup fee at CTV News. “The retail giant said Tuesday it is cancelling its $2.97 charge for customers who order groceries online and pick them up in stores.”Read more

J.C. Penney Launches ‘Project Runway’ Line Amid Retail Push For Faster Fashion by Barbara Thau at Fortune. “The exclusive line rolls out to 500 stores with a women’s summer collection featuring designs inspired by Project Runway’s season 15 winner Erin Robertson, and a full assortment is planned for Sept. 8.”Read more

Publix Q2 Comp Sales +1.6% “Sales for the second quarter of 2017 were positively impacted by 1.2 percent due to the effect of the Easter holiday being in the second quarter in 2017.”Press release

Target Commits $14 Million to Local Youth Soccer “In addition to the local grant program, Target will partner with the U.S. Soccer Foundation to build 100 new soccer play spaces across the U.S. by 2020…to transform the landscape of underserved communities, turning play deserts into safe and accessible soccer spaces.”Press release

Former Costco food buyer set to open Organic Coup restaurants this fall in downtown Seattle and Bellevue by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. “Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal and Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti are among the investors in the chain.”Read more

Democrats call for harsh new punishments on companies that outsource jobs at CNBC. “Democrats’ proposals include penalizing businesses that move jobs or their headquarters out of the United States. Companies would have to pay a corporate tax rate of 35 percent on any profits held overseas before relocating.”Read more

Supplier questions linger on Wal-Mart’s ‘On Time, In Full’ D-Day by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Peter Hirsch and Jennifer Shorkey, divisional merchandise logistics managers at Wal-Mart, presented the basics of the new OTIF agenda to about 100 suppliers who attended Casestack’s Supply Chain Summit…One supplier said it’s unfair for Wal-Mart to charge for late deliveries when much of the problems come from using Wal-Mart’s internal consolidation centers known as Center Point.”Read more

Amazon quietly starts using Stripe to process some e-commerce transactions by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. “Stripe is also trying to make deals with Target Corp., Under Armour Inc., and other merchants to snag money available outside the startup scene, partnerships made more possible by the trust Amazon is showing.”Read more

F.D.A. has 6 inspectors for 3 million shipments of cosmetics by Eric Lipton at NY Times.Read more

Boxed CEO Appears on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” “A day where shoppers don’t even have to think about what they need to purchase — let alone push a button — is quickly approaching, Chieh Huang, Boxed co-founder and CEO, said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The machine learning algorithm is getting better and better” in being used in e-commerce, he said.”Video/Read more

Amazon expands Bay Area footprint with 180K square-foot lease in downtown San Francisco by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. “The tech giant just inked a deal for 180,000 square-feet of space in a downtown San Francisco tower at 525 Market St., reported the San Francisco Business Times, which noted that the lease will bring Amazon’s footprint to more than 750,000 square feet in the Bay Area.”Read more

RAIN, RAIN – Emily rain pounds South Florida and Beach pumps fail without power at Miami Herald. “Throughout Miami Beach, water closed traffic lanes and forced people to wade with shoes in hand. Rain seeped into businesses, and even a manhole popped off the street and floated away. Across the bay, several inches of rain pooled on streets in Miami’s downtown and Brickell neighborhoods.”Read more

Walmart Buying 19K iPads for Employee Training by Jeff Gamet at The Mac Observer. Read more

Kroger unit could face $10M in damages from fingerprint scan lawsuits by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. “A ​Kroger Co. division is the target of two lawsuits that claim the company used fingerprint scans to track when employees clocked in and out of work without getting the proper permissions.”Subscription required

Dirk Van de Put named CEO of Mondelēz as long-time CEO Irene Rosenfeld retires at Reuters.Read more

Walmart & Arianna Huffington Team Up For V-Commerce Competition by Kyle Melnick at VR Scout. “…finalists will be invited to an exclusive exhibition in Los Angeles on October 18…Judges include Huffington, Marc Lore of Walmart Ecommerce U.S., Kristen Green of Forerunner Ventures, and Tipatat Chennavasin of The Venture Reality Fund. “Read more

Amazon poaches ATP tennis rights in UK from Sky at Fox Business. “Amazon Prime Video agreed to pay as much as 10 million pounds ($13.2 million) a year for the rights.”Read more

Tipsheet Extra Stories

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